What is Audience-First Content?

You’ve likely heard that the 5Ws – who, what, where, when and why – are essential to good journalistic writing. In fact, the 5Ws are worth referencing when you’re creating any sort of professional content.

Knowing that you want to deliver the right message in the right place and at the right time covers what, where and when. But to truly get it right, you need to address the who and why.

In this post we’ll talk about who your content is really for and why you need to make sure you answer that just right.

What is Audience-First Content?

Audience-first content is content that puts the audience first by meeting today’s expectations for intelligent, personalized, targeted and relevant messaging.

There’s a lot behind this simple definition, and technology and data are a big part of that. Let’s first just focus on the basics: creating content for the “who” …

So, when you create content, who is it for? The obvious answer is prospects. But are you creating the content they want, or the content you think they want?

Imagine it like this: When you’re buying birthday or holiday gifts do you buy something you like and think the recipient should also like? Or do you learn what they like and search for a gift that suits their taste?

Most would agree that the latter is a better idea, assuming the goal is to find a gift the recipient will honestly appreciate and keep in their home.

A similar approach can apply to content creation. Rather than developing your content first and trying to build an audience on it, be audience-first. Audience-first content (also called audience-driven content) discovers who the audience is, learns what they like and creates content that caters to said information.

One part of knowing your audience is creating personas, and perhaps you’ve done this. Yet, these snapshots of typical customers can change over time as people’s needs, wants and lives change.

Audience-first content is customized to your target audience by aligning with their needs and keeping their attention at various points in the customer journey. TandemSeven has a nice graphic illustrating this:

To make that happen, you’ll need solid data. One way to do this is interviews with your buyer persona to better understand how they make buying decisions.

As TandemSeven points out (and we agree):

Many enterprises are organized in silos – with each silo focusing on optimizing specific channels, touchpoints, and/or aspects of the end-to-end customer experience. It is not uncommon for each group or function in an enterprise to design and measure customer experiences independently of each other. But customers think of all their interactions with a company as connected.

Today the customer journey is not always linear. This article from McKinsey discusses how the process is actually circular with four phases:

Consumer attention is quite limited because there is so much content to choose from; if yours isn’t crafted to them specifically (fitting seamlessly into how they use content, aligning with their interests and providing value), you’re just going to sound like another marketer, and the audience won’t stick around.

And, of course, this depends a lot on your content channel marketing strategy. For example, if you want to compete, be relevant and show up in the search results, you have to create content for both for your prospects and search engines – ensuring you’re implementing SEO best practices before you publish.

Why is an Audience-Driven Approach So Important?

The numbers don’t lie. According to Demand Metric, content marketing costs 62 percent less than traditional marketing and generates about three times as many leads as traditional marketing.

Audience-first content is part of an audience-driven, or customer-centric content marketing approach. Your content, marketing, product development, customer service, etc. should all operate based on solid data on what your audience and customers need and want.

An audience-driven approach to your content also fits with an inbound marketing style. Unlike an outbound marketing approach, which is interruptive and targets a wide audience (think television commercials and banner ads), inbound marketing strives to attract potential customers with content that interests them – true content marketing.

Further, positions in the customer journey change. People who, at one point, had only visited your website might now be repeat customers, so you’d want to approach them differently and with more familiarity. This will help keep them engaged at every stage.

For example, instead of reaching out to regular buyers with a deal on the product they usually buy, offer them the deal plus an even better deal if they add a product that complements the first. To keep it customer-centric allow them to choose the additional item from a short list, and link the listed products to relevant web pages and blogs to make the most of your content.

If you want to talk bottom line, audience-first content and an audience-driven approach reduce marketing waste. You might spend more time researching and tweaking upfront, but once your content and audience are aligned, you can build relationships and trust with your customers. It’s a long-accepted fact that returning customers bring in more revenue than new ones, so those early time investments are sure to pay off in the long run.

Before you develop your content and determine where and when to share it, know who you’re creating it for and why they want it. It’s going to take some time and energy up front, but audience-first content is an investment that can bring long-term benefits for your brand.

What have you learned about your audience and creating content for them first? Let’s talk about it in the comments!

Katie Mitchell
Katie Mitchell is a content writer for bizbuzzcontent. When she’s not writing, you can find her cooking, traveling, doing yoga, and relaxing with friends and family.

Testimonials

Jessica leads one of the most professional content agencies I’ve ever worked with. We target a very niche industry, and Jessica and her team were very thoughtful in their approach. From planning thoughtful pieces, to researching and interviewing SMEs, to brainstorming promotion strategies, Jessica and her team maintain a high degree of professionalism and efficiency.

Steven S., Senior Manager, Demand Generation, Rentlytics

2018-07-31T17:22:53+00:00

Steven S., Senior Manager, Demand Generation, Rentlytics

Jessica leads one of the most professional content agencies I’ve ever worked with. We target a very niche industry, and Jessica and her team were very thoughtful in their approach. From planning thoughtful pieces, to researching and interviewing SMEs, to brainstorming promotion strategies, Jessica and her team maintain a high degree of professionalism and efficiency.

Jessica dedicated her time as a pro-bono volunteer with VolunteerMatch to help us with some key content marketing needs. What impressed me most about working with Jessica was the way she tailored her approach to accommodate the needs of our nonprofit with the resource constraints of our team. Jessica developed personas, one-pagers, case studies and website content that has resulted in an increase in traffic to our site and improved our ability to communicate to our key audiences.

Bree v.F., Director of Marketing and Engagement, VolunteerMatch

2018-07-31T17:22:20+00:00

Bree v.F., Director of Marketing and Engagement, VolunteerMatch

Jessica dedicated her time as a pro-bono volunteer with VolunteerMatch to help us with some key content marketing needs. What impressed me most about working with Jessica was the way she tailored her approach to accommodate the needs of our nonprofit with the resource constraints of our team. Jessica developed personas, one-pagers, case studies and website content that has resulted in an increase in traffic to our site and improved our ability to communicate to our key audiences.

I've worked with Jessica at her company bizbuzzcontent for years. It's my go-to provider whenever my team is looking for high-quality content. What differentiates bizbuzzcontent is that they not only have superior writing skills but a rare ability to completely understand our industry, our company positioning, brand voice and tone, and customers. This just makes the content highly targeted and relevant, and goes a long way in achieving our marketing goals.

Nag P., Sr. Manager, Product Marketing, Salesforce

2018-07-31T17:22:31+00:00

Nag P., Sr. Manager, Product Marketing, Salesforce

I've worked with Jessica at her company bizbuzzcontent for years. It's my go-to provider whenever my team is looking for high-quality content. What differentiates bizbuzzcontent is that they not only have superior writing skills but a rare ability to completely understand our industry, our company positioning, brand voice and tone, and customers. This just makes the content highly targeted and relevant, and goes a long way in achieving our marketing goals.

I love Jessica and the team over at bizbuzzcontent. Within just a matter of a few interactions, she was able to understand, in depth, our complex solution and business model. Since then, she's been critical to us in driving compelling, engaging content via our blogs and white papers. She's a wonderful, thoughtful person to work with, and the work she's done has been a key factor in increasing our conversion rates.

Collin S., Angel Investor and Technology Executive

2018-07-31T17:22:41+00:00

Collin S., Angel Investor and Technology Executive

I love Jessica and the team over at bizbuzzcontent. Within just a matter of a few interactions, she was able to understand, in depth, our complex solution and business model. Since then, she's been critical to us in driving compelling, engaging content via our blogs and white papers. She's a wonderful, thoughtful person to work with, and the work she's done has been a key factor in increasing our conversion rates.

bizbuzzcontent helps me efficiently leverage my own subject-matter expertise to create original content on timely topics. Together, we are able to distill complex topics into client-friendly articles that I can use across multiple platforms. I especially appreciate bizzbuzz’s super-efficient process because it keeps me on track for timely production of new content. Jessica Lee is a pleasure to work with, and I rely on her to bring a strategic eye to my publication efforts.

Priya H., Partner, Woodruff-Sawyer & Co.

2018-07-31T17:23:04+00:00

Priya H., Partner, Woodruff-Sawyer & Co.

bizbuzzcontent helps me efficiently leverage my own subject-matter expertise to create original content on timely topics. Together, we are able to distill complex topics into client-friendly articles that I can use across multiple platforms. I especially appreciate bizzbuzz’s super-efficient process because it keeps me on track for timely production of new content. Jessica Lee is a pleasure to work with, and I rely on her to bring a strategic eye to my publication efforts.

Jessica is a great content creator, writer, reporter and partner to work with. Highly articulate with strong content values and work ethos, Jessica adds great value to all projects she works on. I would happily recommend Jessica to people who wish to scale their content marketing efforts.

Andy B., C-Level Marketing and Strategy Consultant

2018-07-31T17:23:14+00:00

Andy B., C-Level Marketing and Strategy Consultant

Jessica is a great content creator, writer, reporter and partner to work with. Highly articulate with strong content values and work ethos, Jessica adds great value to all projects she works on. I would happily recommend Jessica to people who wish to scale their content marketing efforts.

Jessica is a guest speaker of Microsoft internal training program. She made an awesome presentation of how to create marketable web ages to Microsoft Bing Ads product team and services team. Attendees found Jessica very engaging during the presentation. Microsoft Bing Ads is eager to apply the learning in our daily works, and look forward to partnering with Jessica to bring more value to digital advertising community.

Ping J., Product Manager, Microsoft Bing Ads

2018-07-31T17:21:44+00:00

Ping J., Product Manager, Microsoft Bing Ads

Jessica is a guest speaker of Microsoft internal training program. She made an awesome presentation of how to create marketable web ages to Microsoft Bing Ads product team and services team. Attendees found Jessica very engaging during the presentation. Microsoft Bing Ads is eager to apply the learning in our daily works, and look forward to partnering with Jessica to bring more value to digital advertising community.

Jessica has been instrumental in building our content strategy from ground up, educating our stakeholders and increasing our exposure across all lines of insurance. I can say with confidence that she has been a critical extension of the marketing team, always producing timely deliverable. She has always been enthusiastic about creating new formats for us and new vehicles of information to help the marketing team raise awareness and drive internal adoption. Her most impressive feat from my perspective is how quickly and seamlessly she dived into our 12 lines of insurance. The dexterity and the level of expertise she demonstrated although she had never worked with insurance B2B client was absolutely incredible.

Stephanie M., VP Marketing Communications, Woodruff-Sawyer & Co.

2018-07-31T17:21:33+00:00

Stephanie M., VP Marketing Communications, Woodruff-Sawyer & Co.

Jessica has been instrumental in building our content strategy from ground up, educating our stakeholders and increasing our exposure across all lines of insurance. I can say with confidence that she has been a critical extension of the marketing team, always producing timely deliverable. She has always been enthusiastic about creating new formats for us and new vehicles of information to help the marketing team raise awareness and drive internal adoption. Her most impressive feat from my perspective is how quickly and seamlessly she dived into our 12 lines of insurance. The dexterity and the level of expertise she demonstrated although she had never worked with insurance B2B client was absolutely incredible.

We can't imagine how we managed without bizbuzzcontent before! Working with Jessica Lee is a dream. She is very creative and understands new concepts quickly. The content creation process at bizbuzzcontent is the most efficient we have come across in our many years of working with other writers and agencies. If you want an excellent content program and a company that goes above and beyond, hire bizbuzzcontent today!

Pauline J., CEO, Group Twenty Seven

2018-07-31T17:21:10+00:00

Pauline J., CEO, Group Twenty Seven

We can't imagine how we managed without bizbuzzcontent before! Working with Jessica Lee is a dream. She is very creative and understands new concepts quickly. The content creation process at bizbuzzcontent is the most efficient we have come across in our many years of working with other writers and agencies. If you want an excellent content program and a company that goes above and beyond, hire bizbuzzcontent today!

Jessica and her team at bizbuzzcontent have been a trusted partner for years, and have helped us with our blog, web copy and email marketing, in addition to providing lots of guidance on other content projects. The team is able to quickly get up to speed on any content project's requirements and create quality content that's on target. Over the years, they've helped us educate, drive brand awareness and website traffic. I would definitely recommend bizbuzzcontent for content services.

Ashley G., Digital Ad Management, SearchForce

2018-07-31T17:18:31+00:00

Ashley G., Digital Ad Management, SearchForce

Jessica and her team at bizbuzzcontent have been a trusted partner for years, and have helped us with our blog, web copy and email marketing, in addition to providing lots of guidance on other content projects. The team is able to quickly get up to speed on any content project's requirements and create quality content that's on target. Over the years, they've helped us educate, drive brand awareness and website traffic. I would definitely recommend bizbuzzcontent for content services.